If you're the one who handles purchasing for your company—greeting cards, client gifts, and the occasional case of candles—you already know there's no single right way to do this work. What works for one company falls apart for another. The key is figuring out which situation you're in, and then building your approach around that.
I've managed purchasing for a 200-person financial services firm since 2020. That's about $18,000 a year in greeting cards, ornaments, candles, and the last-minute "we need it by Friday" requests. I report to both operations and finance, so I get asked about cost efficiency and whether things will actually arrive on time. After five years of this, I've sorted out the main scenarios and the playbook for each.
Scenario A: You send greeting cards all year round
If your company sends cards for birthdays, congratulations, sympathy, and employee milestones, you need a steady inventory—not one big order that runs out in March. The challenge is managing the flow without spending every week counting card stock.
Start with the American Greetings greeting cards website home. The portal lets you browse by occasion, set reorder thresholds, and see what you've used over time. It sounds basic, but it wasn't until I started using it that I realized how much I'd been overspending on rush orders at retail price.
A greeting card is a small expense, but it multiplies. If your company sends 200 cards a year, that's roughly $1,000 just in cards and postage. The per-card cost matters less than getting the quantity right. Overbuying by even 50 cards means wasted paper and wasted money.
Our supply closet usually has around 30 cards: birthday, thank-you, congratulation, and a smaller stack of sympathy cards. The right mix depends on your company's culture. Track what gets used for a couple of quarters, then adjust.
And don't forget the postage. A USPS First-Class Forever stamp is $0.73 as of January 2025 (verify current rates at usps.com). That's $146 on 200 cards per year, on top of the card itself. I treated postage as an afterthought for two years—that was a mistake.
The greeting card isn't the expensive part. The postage is. The card is the part you can control.
Full disclosure: I have mixed feelings about running this through an online portal instead of working with a local rep. The portal is faster and easier to audit, but there's something about seeing the actual cards in person before committing to 50 of them. My compromise: I order a small test batch (10 cards, one style) first, and only scale up once I've seen the quality.
Scenario B: You're ordering holiday ornaments and client gifts
This is a totally different rhythm. Instead of steady supply, you're placing one big order for American Greetings ornaments 2025 (or whatever year you're buying for) and hoping you got everything right. The stakes are higher because the window is narrow.
Here's the timeline that has worked for us:
- June–July: Review the upcoming collection. Note which items fit your client list and budget.
- August–September: Place the order. Customization options shrink fast after September. One of our suppliers filled its production calendar by early October last year.
- October: Confirm the delivery date in writing. Ask for a name, not just an order number.
Now, my mistake story. In late 2024, I ordered 400 ornaments from the American Greetings holiday line without checking the updated packaging dimensions. I figured, "it's basically the same box as last year." It wasn't. The new packages were taller and didn't fit the branded card folders we'd already printed. I found out when the shipment arrived in November.
The fix cost us a lost weekend and about $300 in replacement packaging. The money hurt, but the real damage was a bruised reputation—the operations manager had to answer for the delay. Since then, my rule is simple: request one sample unit before placing the full order. The $12 sample was the cheapest insurance I've ever bought in this role.
One more tip on ornaments: don't assume "ornament" means glass. The 2025 American Greetings lineup includes wooden and ceramic designs that ship lighter and are much less likely to break. Glass ornaments look beautiful in the catalog, but when you're shipping 400 of them to employees and clients, breakage is a risk you don't need.
Scenario C: You're buying votive candles for events
Maybe your company hosts client dinners, a holiday party, or a series of events where candle centerpieces are a fixture. Votive candles are cheap, but they come with their own set of pitfalls.
First mistake I made: assuming "votive candle" meant one standard size. It doesn't. A typical votive is around 1.5 inches wide and 2 inches tall, but "standard" variations shorten that to 1.5 inches and cut the burn time in half. Nine times out of ten, you're buying burn time, not just wax.
I'm not a candlemaker, so I can't speak to wax chemistry or fragrance blending. What I can tell you from a purchasing perspective:
- Buy the denser wax candles, even if they cost $0.15 more. They burn closer to their listed time.
- Order about 10% extra. Some candles arrive cracked, some break during setup, and your event will need spares.
How can I melt candle wax? (The office-safe version)
If you're using votives, you're going to end up with leftover wax in glass holders, and the "how can I melt candle wax" question becomes very real. Here's the simple process we use:
- Freeze the holders for about 30 minutes. The wax shrinks and pops out in one piece.
- If it sticks, set the holder in a bowl of hot water (about 150°F). Don't microwave it—I tried that once, and the glass cracked.
- Pour the melted wax into a disposable container and throw it away. Never pour wax down a drain.
Reusing the glass holders saves us about $80 per event. That's not glamorous, but it pays for the extra candles.
How to tell which scenario you're in
The framework only works if you can place yourself. Try this test:
- If you find yourself reordering greeting cards more than once a year, you're in Scenario A. Focus on standing orders and minimum stock levels.
- If you place a single holiday-gift order in the fall and then go quiet, you're in Scenario B. The calendar is your most important tool.
- If you're stocking candles and event supplies throughout the year, you're in Scenario C. Get your verification and cleanup processes down.
If you're in two scenarios at once—many companies are—treat them as separate workstreams. They have different timing, different suppliers, and different kinds of failure. Combining them into one system is a trap.
I can only speak to our context: a mid-sized services firm with a predictable calendar and a finance team that wants receipts. If you're in retail, hospitality, or a growth-stage company, the specifics will change. But the structure holds: know your scenario, design your process around it, and verify the details you think you don't need to check.
There's something satisfying about getting this right. The cards are in the closet, the ornaments fit the packaging, the votives last through the keynote speech. It's not glamorous work, but when it goes well, the whole event looks effortless. That's the outcome you're really buying.
Jane Smith
I’m Jane Smith, a senior content writer with over 15 years of experience in the packaging and printing industry. I specialize in writing about the latest trends, technologies, and best practices in packaging design, sustainability, and printing techniques. My goal is to help businesses understand complex printing processes and design solutions that enhance both product packaging and brand visibility.